Just three months after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on crypto banking, an unexpected turnaround has taken place in the Indian cryptocurrency community. The Indian Ministry of Finance has made a proposal to legally prohibit cryptocurrencies in the country.
According to a report by the Economic Times, the new proposal will first be submitted to the Union Council of Minister and afterward referred to the Indian parliament for the last review. Interestingly, the Indian Supreme Court lifted the ban on providing banking services to crypto-related firms.
Indian Ministry of Finance blowing away the Indian Crypto dream
Back in 2019, a group of top government officials, headed by ex-finance secretary Subhash Garg, had proposed a law to fully outlaw India’s digital currencies. In addition, the committee affirmed to anyone found using cryptocurrencies a prison sentence of up to ten years or a fine of $3.2million. The daft did not materialize, however, and little is known about it.
“No person shall mine, generate, hold, sell, deal in, issue, transfer, dispose of or use cryptocurrency in the territory of India,” the draft proposal read.
Once again, the latest proposal by the Indian Ministry of Finance has instilled fear in the country’s cryptocurrency community. The past three months have been peaceful and enjoyable, with new startups budding to drive cryptocurrency adoption in the country. However, the latest proposal seems hard to evade and will blow the Indian crypto dream a colossal blow.
Huge blow for Binance and OKEx
Major exchange firms such as Binance and OKEx, which were looking to expand their services to the country, will have to withdraw. An official of the corporate advisory firm, AKM Global, while speaking to media outlets, said that if the latest proposal were to be the same as last year, the country’s cryptocurrency sector would be completely “decimate.”
In conclusion, India is considered to be one of the most prominent and promising digital currency markets. The only problem is that the government and regulators are not supportive, but it remains to be seen whether the country will push forward the proposal.
